Rep. Harold Mitchell Jr.’s path to environmental justice wasn’t a straight line.
Today Mitchell is the CEO of the ReGenesis Institute and a former member of the South Carolina House of Representatives. But that wasn’t always the plan. Growing up in Spartanburg, Mitchell’s life was suddenly derailed after college by a severe medical crisis he couldn’t explain.
“I came back home [to recover],” Mitchell recalls. “After going through this, I ended up looking at the facility in front of the house that I grew up in.”
Mitchell’s search for answers led him to the local environmental office, where he made a shocking reality: his neighborhood was situated near a facility storing toxic and carcinogenic waste.
As he delved deeper, the picture became increasingly grim. Mitchell had lost his father and his sister to cancer, personal tragedies he now realized were connected to that same environmental contamination. “It was like peeling back an onion,” he says. “That’s when I saw my [niece] living in the same house that same way. And it just started snowballing from there.”
“The last thing my father told me [before I took him to the hospital] was not to give up,” adds Mitchell. “It’s instilled a foundation of not giving up, and helping those like myself who didn’t know where to go.”
Mitchell channeled his frustration into action, mobilizing his community and demanding accountability. Faced with a web of denial and bureaucractic hurdles, he refused to back down. This led to a groundbreaking victory—securing a federally qualified health center, a vital resource for his underserved community.
But Mitchell’s vision extended beyond his own neighborhood. He saw the struggle for environmental justice reflected in communities across the country. And so in 1998, Mitchell founded the ReGenesis Institute to target the root causes of environmental injustice and empower communities to create lasting change.
The ReGenesis Institute is a grassroots organization committed to revitalizing distressed frontline communities. By addressing a complex web of environmental, health, social, and economic challenges, ReGenesis works to create thriving neighborhoods where residents can flourish.
A cornerstone of their efforts is improving access to healthcare. Inspired by that initial victory in Spartanburg, the Institute has been instrumental in establishing federally qualified health centers in medically underserved areas, shifting the focus from reactive treatment to proactive prevention.
“This gives [people] a medical home,” says Mitchell.
Beyond healthcare, ReGenesis is dedicated to enhancing the physical environment. This includes environmental cleanup, green space development, and infrastructure improvements. By creating parks, community gardens, and safe spaces, ReGenesis not only beautifies neighborhoods but also promotes physical and mental well-being. To foster long-term sustainability, the organization empowers community members through education, job training, and leadership development.
ReGenesis has achieved national acclaim for its environmental justice work, including recognition as a Collaborative Problem-Solving Model by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. And last year the Bezos Earth Fund awarded ReGenesis a Greening America’s Cities grant to enhance low-income communities in Los Angeles, Atlanta, Albuquerque, and Wilmington, Delaware.
Mitchell’s approach to environmental justice is holistic and collaborative. He understands the intricate connection between environmental health, economic opportunity, and social justice. Through the Regenesis Institute, he’s become a bridge-builder, connecting communities with resources and fostering collaboration between residents, policymakers, and researchers.
“The communities have the solutions because they know the problems,” he asserts. “[Now we need to] put resources into the hands of frontline communities that have never had a voice or a dollar to fight their cause.”
As the keynote speaker at the NC BREATHE 2024 conference, Mitchell will share his insights on the critical connection between environmental health and human well-being.
His keynote address, “Renew, Refresh, Recharge: Revolutionizing Tomorrow’s Sustainability Landscape,” will explore the challenges and opportunities facing communities in the era of climate change.
For Mitchell, the NC BREATHE conference is an opportunity to empower people to participate in civic engagement and collective action. By sharing his experiences and insights, he hopes to inspire attendees to become agents of change in their own communities.
“If you don’t have a voice at the table, you’re going to constantly be on the outside, banging your fists and making demands that folks are not going to take seriously,” Mitchell argues.
“Having a conference like this with people that are passionate about climate and environmental justice and [their] impacts on a lot of these fenceline communities. I think we need this more than… I can’t even put into words what this conference could do.”
